Introducing The Future Class of...

2020!

Savannah, Macy, Caleb, Grace, Timmy and Jared

My sister Lynn in the background! :)

How adorable is it to see a troupe of little children all wearing Daddy's shirt backwards to make the perfect "robe" to graduate in!

Savannah at her Kindergarten Graduation! So Precious!

Appropriate for the last born to a couple of opticians to be a future graduate in the year 2020 ! :)

The Old School House

As I don't have any blog ads on my site, I feel it is perfectly fine to promote worthy "products" every once in a while!

As a home school family, "The Old School House Magazine" is a wonderful resource compiled of articles, testimonials, and ideas to make your home school a great success! It is believable as well as valuable, and not to mention a huge encouragement!

I wanted to tell you about a special promotion the magazine for home school families is running right now. If you subscribe for just a year, you actually (while supplies last) will receive 25 curriculum-type gifts from various vendors. The value is huge – hundreds of dollars' worth of freebies to you. No strings attached – except that TOS only has about 2000 of these “gift baskets” left in their inventory. First come, first served. Here's the link which explains more, below. You can even view all the gifts and find out how they'll arrive. Hurry, though, they go really fast. Last time the magazine did this they sold out about two months early.

Click here to find out more!

The above link will show you the pictures of your free gifts plus give you all the details.

Look on with great interest, and pass it along to another family if you personally cannot use it! It is sure to be a great blessing to them!

5 Minutes of Fame!

Well, the reasons I love home schooling have just increased!

We had a great day today on the SET OF A MOVIE!!

A great friend called and asked if we would like to be extras on a movie set that was going to be shooting today at Holy Sepulcher Cemetery. "The Secrets of Jonathan Sperry". How could I resist? My son, the good boy that he is, happily went along with it.

The scene is set in the 70's, so I think the worst part was the "Geeky" cut-off jean shorts that were, well, SHORT! Those little knobby knees haven't seen the light of day since his early diaper wearin' years and he wasn't too sure he wanted them first re-exposed to potentially millions! (OK, maybe hundred thousands!) He was again thrilled at the mustard-yellow-extra-sheer button down shirt and maroon high top sneakers! The hat was, in his words, just tolerable! I thought he looked adorable, but I was 11 in the 70's, so I may have been reliving my childhood a little! I surely would have been twitterpated at the sight of such a cutie! Anyhow!

The coolest thing is... he got mic'd and had to memorize a line!

"Neither do I"

That was the line! It may very well be his first steps on the road to fame!
It for sure won't be because of the wardrobe!

Back to School!

Today marks the first day of school here at the "Jalowiec Academy of Excellence" for the 2007-2008 school year.

It is such a great thing to home school, because people will attach all kinds of SuperMom qualities to me and only I know they couldn't be further from the truth! I would love to be organized, have the unconditional respect and admiration from my children (which must be the case if they actually submit to my teaching them!), as well as an "always clean home" (due to the readily available child labor force I possess), and a divinely contented husband that has dinner waiting for him upon his return home from work served to him on china and crystal. To be sure, I have been meticulously groomed and primped for him, too!

NOT!!!

I sometimes think the real motivation for home schooling is to simply contain the chaos as much as possible. Could you imagine if I had to report to five teachers, three different principals, guidance counselors, bus drivers...! Yikes!

Truthfully, I would not trade these years for anything. There is an inexplainable joy in having my children with me all the time. I have an 12 year gap between my daughters, and even though one is 16 and the other 4, they really know each other! My sons' best play mates are each other- well, most of the time! (I have been told that physical violence play is a sign of affection...)

The kids benefit from being able to take advantage of Dad's free time, too. There are days he doesn't leave for work until 1:00, and the entire morning is spent with him. It totally wrecks the school day, but I need to look at the bigger picture! Dad is a vital part of our family, and he gets to have real quality time with them. If they were traditionally schooled, they would be gone when he is home, and I could have him all to myself... wait, that is supposed to say they wouldn't see him for the entire day!

That does bring up another point, though. We as parents need to be very creative when it comes to time with each other. Kids seem to have the ability to consume everything they possibly can- and I don't mean just the weeks groceries!

So, here we go plodding the course of another year of study. Another year of Biology labs, sentence diagramming, spelling tests, field trips, Algebra and multiplication tables. How the time flies! To think my O. has only two years until graduation! Class of 2009! She will share the pleasure with Dad, who will be graduating from NSBI. Not to let that give me much of a feeling of "I am getting done"- S. is only four... at least 13 more years to go!

p.s. Though the calendar said "First Day of School"- it was less than a successful day!

p.p.s. I don't even want to admit how many times I had to rely on spell checker for this post!